Chicago PSérs I need your help please

[D2B]

Hi

Anyone live in Chicago, or is familiar with the area?

As I mentioned previously my husband looks like getting a transfer to the US branch of his work. Chicago has now been flagged as an option. I know nothing about Chicago. My main concern is finding a safe neighbourhood/suburb to go house / apartment hunting in. Work will pay for our accomodation, so we are looking for a nice, well off area, which is safe and family friendly (we have one toddler) . Probably looking to live in an apartment with doorman/security, or townhouse in a safe complex - arghhh.

Currently we live in a cute town, very safe and very easy walking distance to everything, with my husband communting into london. I have never lived in a major city and am finding the prosepect a bit daunting.

Simply lack of information and knowledge . So any advice on good suburbs, general websites and real estate websites, or hints about chicago most welcome.

Well, looking forward to your replies so I can research maddly

and get a feel for how we would cope as a family in a major city.

Thanks from the UK

D2B

 

[Independent Gal]

Most American cities that are 'unsafe' are overwhelmingly unsafe if you happen to be very poor, male, in a specific neighbourhood and around 15-25 years old. I have lived in a couple of major American cities - like Washington - that have notorious murder rates, but you would never know, because the violence is all concentrated in specific places and doesn't affect privileged people at all. I frankly find that even more creepy than the alternative. Kind of like 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Chicago is a FANTASTIC city for children. There are so many spectacular museums and activities geared toward kids. Another great thing for kids is the diversity of the city. Your children will get to interact with kids of lots of different cultures and backgrounds, which I happen to think is both healthy for moral development, and also handy for future life in a multicultural and globalized workforce.

I don't know anything about suburbs (allergic) but I have friends from grad school whom I visit often who live in the Lakeview and in the South Loop parts of Chicago. The friends in Lakeview have kids and seem very happy there. Lincoln Park would be the place to go if 'money is no object', which, given the great exchange rate from the UK, you may find to be the case!

Don't be nervous. Living in a city is fantastic and thrilling, once you get used to it. People raise happy healthy kids in cities all the time. Hey, look at me! I'm city-grown!

Plus, there's so much to offer for you: the architecture is among the best and most cohesive in the world, a world class art museum, some of the most innovative theater companies in the world, a very solid opera company and symphony, fabulous shopping and a Van Cleef, Tiffany, Bulgari, Cartier, and Graff all within a few blocks!

 

[D2B]

Thanks Independant Gal, it is the fear of the unknown for me

, that is why I need to research and research to feel comfortable.

We have had a few overseas assignments and have loved each one, the weird thing is that now with a toddler, I have become MRS Saftey woman, I swear children bring out every paranoid thought you ever had, as mother nature makes sure you protect them

D2B

 

[Independent Gal]

I get that fear of the unknown and unknown places too! I also research compulsively to make myself feel better. But even better: are you able to come on over and have a look around on the early side? Might settle your nerves.

Oh, and I think there are some PS'ers who actually work for schools in Chicago... Haven, if I'm not mistaken? Maybe she can help with navigating that end of things, if you're going to be on this side of the pond long enough for that toddler of yours to need a teacher!

How long WILL you be coming for? Is it a diplomatic posting (don't answer if you don't feel comfy, of course).

 

[Independent Gal]

Just found this, with a little info about resources in Lincoln Park. Lots and lots of families there, it's extremely pretty, all the services are right there, as well as gorgeous boutiques, cafes, great restaurants, and you don't have to deal with the endless blocked traffic getting into town as you would from a suburb. In fact, you practically never would need a car living there, even with a toddler!

http://lincolnparkconnect.com/

 

[D2B]

Thanks again Independant Gal, will have a look around those sites you mentioned.
Yep, will need schools later, as we are staying for 2 -3 years. Currently he is doing nursery (kindergarten) here in the UK through a montessori program and loving it.
No, not part of any diplomatic service, just a large company
This bit just before the move gets finalised is the most stressful time as you are sort of in limbo, but once all the details get sorted, it is all worth it and makes life interesting.

D2B

 

[jas]

Hi D2B -- I''ve lived in Chicago for 16 years and DH is a realtor; I hope I can be of some help. I will ask DH for some good info once he awakens...he''s laid up with the flu and is apparently coughing up a furball.

As Indy said, there are many wonderful options for your family, in the city and in the surrounding suburbs.

Here are a few places to think about when searching:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhoods_of_Chicago
www.dreamtown.com/maps/chicago-neighborhood-map.htm
www.chicagoneighborhoods.cc

I know more about suburbs to the north of the city rather than west or south, but there are enough Chicago PSers who can help.

In the city, there are a lot of family-friendly, walking-friendly, neighborhoody parts of town. Bucktown, although squickly for parking, has a lot of young families, as does Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Hyde Park (which is a really interesting college town full of history). West Loop (where I live) and South Loop are developing areas with really neat spaces. Andersonville has more trees and is further from downtown, and if you get really far north and west, for example, the Irving Park neighborhood, you have some really gorgeous, lush green areas.

I am a teacher and know of some good magnet schools here in Chicago. I know more about the suburban school districts.

Depending on how far from the city you want to be, your suburban choices are varied and excellent, more so if your hubby is willing to take the train to work (traffic here is ridiculous). Evanston, Deerfield, Skokie, Northbrook, Northfield, Winnetka, Wilmette, Highland Park, Lake Forest (I''m going up the Metra train North line in my head)...all of these have their really positive attributes and some great great great school districts. Further west you have Wheeling, Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove. I know I''m forgetting a ton...hopefully some other PSers can help out here...I haven''t had my coffee yet.

I hope that''s enough to give you a place to start researching. I am more than happy to pass questions along to DH (and answer any I can myself).

Good luck with this -- I hope this means we can meet up in the city sometime!

Jackie

 

[D2B]

wow, thank you so much jas. Great to have some additional names of areas to research. Depending on our housing allowance, we will most likely want to be as close to the city whilst still having some nice neighbourhood feel, with families and of course safe. Any good realestate sites that are worth looking at??

I must say when I joined PS for my diamond eternity ring quest, I had no idea what a bunch of lovely people where to be found here. I have been posting a few weird and wonderful posts regarding this possible move to the US and everyones help has been great.

I must say I am starting to get quite excited about it all

,.

D2B

 

[KimberlyH]

D2B, you lucky duck, Chicago is my very favorite city! If my family didn''t all live in CA we''d have moved in a second (we got as far as looking at houses there last year and I sorta flipped out about being so far away from home).

Lincoln Park and Lakeview are amazing. Andersonville is a fabulous community (with the most amazing Italian Bakery!). Those were the three places we focused on as I wanted a yard. All three had wonderful aspects to them. I didn''t look into school districts as we don''t have children and when we do we decided we''d most likely send them to private school, so that''s a factor I can''t comment on.

Hopefully DeeJay will see this thread and pop in to give some more great insight, jas and IG have provided you with lots of great info already for sure! She''s a realtor (and an amazingly fun person) and would have lots to share with you.

 

[Haven]

I live in Chicago and was raised in the northern suburbs. You''ve gotten a lot of great advice about different neighborhoods, do you have an idea of where in Chicago your hubby will be working? When you''re commuting, Chicago is a big city as, like jas said, traffic is ridiculous.

That being said, I''m in Lakeview and there are a ton of families here. We''re also almost literally right on the lake, so the views and summer activity options are incredible. As for suburbs, check out metrarail.com to see the different lines for commuting options for your hubby. You can''t go wrong with schools along the north shore, if that''s a concern.

I''d also spend some time on metromix.com--you can look up different restaurants, things to do, etc. in different neighborhoods and suburbs to get a feel for the flavor of different places.

Good luck! I love Chicago, I think you''ll find that it''s a wonderful place to live.

 

[coatimundi_org]

Hey D2B!

I lived in Chicago for 7 years before I moved to Los Angeles. I lived all over that city, and what is so unique about it is all the little pockets.

I'd say Bucktown, Lincoln Park, and Lakeview would be great kid friendly areas.

Hyde Park is just lovely--The University of Chicago is there. (beautiful campus)

The North Shore is really nice, and as Haven said, great schools. A lot of my friends with kids left the immediate metropolitan area, and moved to the North Shore for that very reason.

It's great that you want to be near or live in the city. You will definitely get that neighborhood feel that you're looking for.

Check out Chicago.com

info about Bucktown

I really loved Bucktown. Every summer they have the Bucktown Arts Fest and, in the fall, the Around the Coyote Arts festival. You can easily walk to restauants, shopping, parks, small galleries etc. You'll find you can do this in many Chicago neighborhoods. Oh! I'm all nostalgic now!

Good Luck! Very exciting!

 

[Elmorton]

One of my close girlfriends lives in Evanston - I highly recommend that area. She is just down the street from the university, and walking distance from all sorts of shops and restaurants, walking distance from the beach, and her neighborhood is adorable - tree lined streets with lots of old historic homes with (hers is broken into a couple of apartments). She has a decent sized back yard, too. She says it''s pretty affordable as city dwelling goes, and she and her husband live close to the train so it''s a very short commute to the heart of the city. When I visited her last, it was very easy to drive around, but we walked everywhere because anything we wanted to do was close by. It would be a great place to be with young kids.

 

[eks6426]

My family is mostly located in Chicagoland. One area I would consider to raise a family that has not been mentioned is west....Oak Park. It''s a lovely town within the larger city. To me it feels more like a small town than a large city although it is close enough to hope the train and go into city center. Frank Lloyd Wright has a lot of homes in the area...you can even take tours. There are tree lined streets with beautiful homes and apartments.

Good luck. Chicago is a great city. So many things to do and relatively safe.

http://www.oprf.com/

 

[Erin]

I lived in Lakeview for four years and people down here in Smalltown, USA always ask me, didn''t you feel anonymous? alone? isolated?

I guess what people don''t understand about living in larger cities is that your little three block radius becomes just like a small town. You count on your neighbors for companionship and security when you''re out of town. You see the same people at the local grocery store, train stop, drycleaners, etc. It''s like living in a small town only the small towns are clustered on top of each other. I lived on Southport and I felt like there were small children everywhere!

 

[akw94]

Hi D2B,

I have lived in and around Chicago for much of my life, mainly in the city. As an adult with a child, I''ve had the opportunity to learn about various neighborhoods and experience what they''re like.
A few years ago, I moved to the near Western suburbs of Chicago. I did this specifically for my child. Although there are a few good schools in the city (and in my opinion, that number really is quite limited), it is very hard to get your child into one of those good schools. There are so many schools that it''s very likely that your neighborhood school won''t be the school of your preference. If you can''t get into a school b/c it''s your neighborhood school, most schools have the lottery system. I participated in the lottery system for 3 years. I never got a school that I wanted. Finally, I did get one toward the bottom of my list but after having my child there for a year, I realized it absolutely was the wrong school. I moved out of the city after that. There are also some gifted schools that you can test into. Again, they are limited and there are so many kids testing that it''s extremely difficult to get in to these schools. There are certainly some private schools that are great but you have to be able to afford them. If you can, I''d look into the Lab school, Francis Parker, the Latin school, Catherine Cook to name a few.
If you''re going to stick with the public schools, I found that staying in the city just wasn''t worth it. Not only is there a problem getting into the school, you likely have to have your child bussed b/c the schools are not close to your home. The school bus is not a fun place for most kids. My son experienced it for a short time and I took him off of it b/c it was a bad experience. Too many kids that are far faster than mine and too many inappropriate comments that he was seeing/hearing. Also, another problem I had is that none of your child''s friends will live nearby. I LOVE the fact that my some of my son''s friends are in walking distance or 5-10 minutes driving at the very most. We can go to the store, movies, out to eat and see his friends. He just loves that. Having lived in the city, he never experienced it.
I have to tell you that our experience in the ''burbs has been worth it for my son. He has changed so much and has just thrived. Sure, there are still plenty of bad schools in the suburbs so you have to do your research and be careful but the odds are certainly greater of getting into them b/c they can easily become or your neighborhood school since there aren''t as many schools in the actual area.
As far as suburbs: I would recommend Oak Park (western) as a great area for kids/schools. I would recommend Evanston (northern) also but I don''t know as much about the schools. I have heard that Naperville has great schools but it''s much further west.

I like many of the neighborhoods that others have recommended in the city. I have lived in many: Wicker Park, Edgewater, Taylor Street area but for me, they weren''t the best places to have school age children. Don''t get me wrong, I loved these neighborhoods (especially Edgewater) but I couldn''t find a school that worked so I just couldn''t stay there. These areas are also much more crowded and parking is difficult. They have families but they also have a younger crowd. Lincoln Park is also a great area but definitely you need $ to live there.

I would''ve been the last one to recommend the suburbs until I had a child. Having grown up in the city, I never could''ve imagined myself in the ''burbs but as a parent, I see the benefits outweigh the negatives by far.

I hope that was helpful and if you need more specific advice about Chgo neighborhoods or the suburbs, I''d be happy to help.

**I''m sorry, I just reread your post and saw you were looking for a townhouse or multi-unit complex w/a doorman. In that case, inside the city might really work better for you. You can find condo''s and some townhomes in the suburbs but there''s a lot more of that in the city. Please ignore all of the above that isn''t relevant to you!!

The main papers in Chicago are the Sun-Times and the Tribune. There''s also the Reader which is smaller and caters a bit more to the Northside of Chicago (imo). There''s the Wednesday Journal and one other (sorry, can''t think of the name) that are for the Western suburbs. They all have websites.

Take care and good luck!

 

[akw94]

Hi,
I was thinking a bit more about your post and wanted to recommend Flossmoor as well. It''s a Southern suburb and I''ve heard great things about it. It has great diversity, as do Oak Park and Evanston. I''ve heard the schools are very good and the community is friendly. One thing I don''t like about it is the distance. I like the areas where the commute is shorter into the city, so it depends where you''ll work, if you mind taking the train or driving for awhile.
Hope you find what you are looking for.

 

[monarch64]

Just wanted to add my vote for Oak Park, great near-western suburb! We''re a little further west but I''ve been to the OP area many times and adore it. Also LOVE Lincoln Park but it definitely requires a higher income.

 

[Blue824]

I rarely post much, but I''ll chime in for a Chicago topic!

I grew up on the North Shore area of the Chicago suburbs, they are all very family oriented and great public schools so I totally agree with a lot of the suburbs already mentioned. Unfortunately, besides knowledge of the city, my suburban knowledge is quite limited to this small pocket of suburbs and not much else... But, one that hasn''t been mentioned that I think is definitely worth looking into Glenview, specifically "The Glen." It was a Naval Air Base - I think - converted into housing and shopping. It can be self contained, like you have good restaurants, some stores, groceries, etc all in this one area, but have easy access to the city - close proximity to the Metra train (commuter train, stops right in the Glen) and to the expressways. I didn''t grow up there, but it seems to attract a lot of younger families. There are a variety of housing options within that area too - condos, townhouses, large single family homes. I personally agree with dixie on the suburban education being better than the city schools, unless you are lucky enough to test into the great ones or be able to afford the private schools.

Will you get to come to Chicago and see some locations before you have to decide where you would like to live? There are lots of friendly people on PS to offer more advice as you have more questions about the upcoming move. Good luck with everything.

 

[monarch64]

Hi Blue!!! I second Glenview as well...great jewelry stores there too, LOL!

 

[D2B]

Thanks everyone. So much to research and look into (yeahh

). Now all I have to do is wait for confirmition of what our options with regard to our posting choices are. arghhh, cant wait to get this finalised so i know where (and in which country) we will be living. will keep you all updated

D2B